Who doesn’t love French Fries? One year for Dave’s birthday I bought a ten lb bag of Russet potatoes and set upon the task of perfecting the deep-fried French Fry. Dave, on the other hand, in the interests of longevity, set himself the equal task of perfecting the oven-baked French Fry. Admittedly, I was sceptical. What self-respecting French Fry lover wouldn’t be?

And yet, the other night, my sweetie came up with a break-through recipe that gives any self-respecting deep-fried potato a run for its money. “What’s your secret?” I asked? “Pre-cooking, my little love biscuit.” he answered. “And for how long?” I ventured, still sceptical.

“Until they’re soft on the outside but still hard on the inside, approximately 10 minutes of boiling.”

So forthwith my French Fry loving friends, is an oven-baked French Fry recipe that will give the ordinary deep-fried street fry a run for its money.

Oven-Fries for two people with mayonnaise, lemon, garlic sauce.

4 Russet potatoes

Par boil for 10 12 minutes or until soft on the outside but hard in the inside.

Preheat oven to 450.

Cool potatoes in cold water.

Cut into fry shape pieces (skin on).

Place in large bowl and toss with olive oil and salt and two tsp chili powder and paprika (and garlic and onion powder if you like. Dave didn’t use it in his version).

Place on large oven tray and place in oven until golden and then flip. Bake the other side.

In the meantime mix 4 tbsp mayonnaise (Hellman’s please, no Kraft Miracle Whip), squeeze half a lemon, 2 gloves crushed garlic with a pinch of paprika. Now have yourselves a feast!

The original recipe came from the excellent folks over at allrecipes.com (they don’t par boil, but it works better).

And for all you really serious French Fry obsessives, the folks over at Serious Eats wrote a treatise on perfecting the thin crispy fried potato.